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Now, Only in Theaters: New PlayStation Games

By Eric A. Taub October 12, 2009 5:39 pmOctober 12, 2009 5:39 pm

At the Sony premier of the PlayStation3 sequel, Unchartered 2: Among Thieves, in Thousand Oaks, Calif.

With dropping attendance, theater owners are looking for “alternative content” to help boost revenues. Opera is perhaps the most successful of the lot, with broadcasts of live performances drawing enthusiastic crowds during daytime hours when theaters would otherwise be empty.

Now Sony has come up with a new strategy: premiering video games in digital theaters. On Monday, the company offered a “sneak peek” of its upcoming PlayStation3 sequel, Unchartered 2: Among Thieves, to several hundred video-game enthusiasts at theaters in Bellevue, Wash.; Rosemont, Ill.; San Francisco; and Thousand Oaks, Calif.

At each theater, 10 LCD screens allowed two teams of five to play the first-person shooter game, while a director switched back and forth between players to project gameplay on the theater screen using Sony’s 4K digital projector.

The huge image of the game on the theater screen created an immersive experience; with its intricate graphics, the action often looked more like a movie than a video game. But as good as the 4K experience is with feature films, the game was surprisingly dim. Compared to the eye-popping bright, saturated images on the LCD screens just a few feet away, the screen image looked dull and washed out. Here’s a case where size trumped quality.

About half the audience got a chance to play, and when they weren’t, they were chowing down on free food and soft drinks, cheering on the players. Everyone who showed up got a gift bag, a T-shirt and, for the first night’s attendees, a surprise copy of the game.

Monday night was free, with attendees—each of whom was given a “VIP” badge—chosen through entries on various blogs. But those who wanted to come on Tuesday had to pay $15 for the privilege.

For Sony, these evenings can be an effective way to drum up interest in their new game titles, as the avid fans go home to blog and tweet to their friends about their experiences. The company also sees it as a new revenue stream for it and the theater owners, with concerts and sporting events on the agenda as well.

Get ’em Mathew! Geez, you’d think this artical came from some snobby, big-city newspaper where none of the writers ever play video games or something. FYI. This is not a game. It’s a playable action/adventure CGI film. Seriously, Uncharted 2 is EPIC!

Uncharted is Epic its also a real man game in the same sense of a Hard core action movie for men, with the exception of my fiance wants to get in on the action as well. “Man I dont ever get a turn!” Outstanding job on the game Naughty Dog hands down best game on PS3.

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